Players must take some blame as well
Part of Dan Duquette's on-the-job problems can be reduced to this: He's an easy target. You often hear that he is arrogant, which is true, but you rarely hear how shy he is. This is a man who understands the concept of being uncomfortable in one's own skin.
You would never give the Red Sox general manager a mike and tell him to work the room. It's not his style. Back in his bachelor days, he probably sidled up to young ladies and asked if he could treat them to dinner at a restaurant with ''competitive, market-value'' prices.
He's stiff, he's suspicious, he's got bad timing, and he's exactly what many frustrated Red Sox players and fans need at this point in the season.
An easy target.
A punching bag.
A villain in a navy blue suit.
Take a deep breath and you'll realize that you may be giving him too much credit for the collapse of the baseball team that was built on sand. He may have been the first man in America to construct a $100 million-plus lemon. He may have wrongly fired a man named Jimy and wrongly replaced him with a man named Joe. He may have created a mutinous clubhouse when he couldn't wait a few hours to fire his, ahem, bullpen/pitching coach.
(How stupid was that? He could have saved the move for Monday afternoon and avoided being cursed by Nomar Garciaparra. Anyway, he fired John Cumberland with a roomful of reporters around the corner. That's begging for attention. If Duquette had waited, Cumberland would have been a news brief and, honestly, we wouldn't be having this conversation.)
With that said, please remember that Duquette didn't act alone. His players were in on this, too. They are the ones who quit. Does anyone have evidence that this is the same team that was affectionately known as Dirt Dogs a few weeks ago?
These heartbreakers, losers of nine games in a row, reeled in the region and then crushed it. As with all failed love affairs, the warning signs were ignored. We should have known something was wrong when the players began whining in May and never let off the pedal. It was kind of humorous at first. The Sox were the typical nuclear family, one wrong glance away from a dinner-table argument.
Then it got worse.
From spring to fall, they ripped their bosses. Dan. Jimy. Joe. It didn't make a difference. The Sox were a mix between the Rugrats and Bebe's Kids, a bunch of rebels daring management to reprimand them. We should have known they had just as much leadership as they had talent when no one - no one - came out publicly to denounce the bitching. I can remember thinking (and writing), ''Crazy kids. Must not be a problem if they're winning.''
What a sucker.
Yeah, this team has a bad GM. It has injured players. It also has delusional players. Dante Bichette begged for at-bats, got them, and now has walked only five more times than notorious free swinger Shea Hillenbrand (18 to 13). Mike Lansing wondered why he was buried so deep in the lineup. Carl Everett questioned the manager. Player after player whispered and complained, constantly, and that caught up with them as much as the injuries did.
I will agree with anyone who says Duquette has had an off year. But I'd also say that the players have been just as bad, if not worse. They were so shortsighted with their former manager that they couldn't see that he, at least, never made excuses. They basically demanded a new skipper and they got him.
Meet the new Skip, worse than the old Skip.
Now, the same fans who have pilloried self-important Sox in the past are defending the players and savagely slamming the GM. Right thought, wrong attack. Duquette could certainly use more speechwriters, glib consultants, and possibly a comedian on his much-discussed radio show. He has a gift for saying the wrong thing. That was on display again yesterday when Pedro Martinez had a problem with the GM saying the pitcher ''is not hurt.''
''What I don't appreciate is Duquette saying I'm healthy because, dammit, it's not true,'' Martinez said in front of his locker.
You could see what was coming next. The pitcher was angry. The pitcher said he would give back his paycheck if necessary. All of it could have been avoided if Duquette had talked with Martinez (which he didn't) or had someone brief him on Martinez and give him an update on his condition (which he didn't). Instead, he added to the angry atmosphere. If he isn't fired at the end of the year, which he should be, he should at least hire some folks who will help him lessen the confusion in his baseball house.
As for his team ...
''To be honest, we are the ones who play,'' Martinez said. ''We should take the blame for not winning the games. Too bad I got hurt. Nomar got hurt. Carl got hurt. We haven't been playing together, and that's a low blow for the entire team.''
Not just the awkward GM.
By Michael Holley, Globe Columnist, 9/5/2001
This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 9/5/2001
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company